Synthesis, biological evaluation and molecular docking studies of 6-(4-nitrophenoxy)-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives as novel antitubercular agents: future DprE1 inhibitors

Tuberculosis is an air-borne disease, mostly affecting young adults in their productive years. Here, Ligand-based drug design approach yielded a series of 23 novel 6-(4-nitrophenoxy)-1H-imidazo[4,5-b]pyridine derivatives. The required building block of imidazopyridine was synthesized from commercially available 5,5-diaminopyridine-3-ol followed by four step sequence. Derivatives were prepared using various substituted aromatic aldehydes. All the synthesized analogues were characterized using NMR, Mass analysis and also screened for in vitro antitubercular activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (H₃₇Rv). Four compounds, 5c (MIC-0.6 μmol/L); 5g (MIC-0.5 μmol/L); 5i (MIC-0.8 μmol/L); and 5u (MIC-0.7 μmol/L) were identified as potent analogues. Drug receptor interactions were studied with the help of ligand docking using maestro molecular modeling interphase, Schrodinger. Here, computational studies showed promising interaction with other residues with good score, which is novel finding than previously reported. So, these compounds may exhibit in vivo DprE1 inhibitory activity.